Helen Valentine

Helen Valentine (1893–1986) was the founder and editor in chief of Seventeen and Charm magazines.

Early life and education Born Helen Rose Lachman in Manhattan, she was the only child of German Jewish immigrants. Her father Gustave was an accountant and her mother Bertha (née Kahn) was a homemaker. Beginning as a part-time copy writer for Lord & Thomas, Valentine was among the first fired from the advertising firm when the Great Depression began.

In 1944, while serving as promotion director for Mademoiselle magazine at Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, she was asked by Annenberg to help revive a movie magazine.

From 1948-1949, Valentine served as president of Fashion Group International, an organization created in the 1930s by a group of business women working in fashion.

In 1950, she accepted a job with Street & Smith to revamp a fading women's magazine called Charm which she re-configured into the country's first fashion magazine for working women.

In 1958, Valentine was hired by Good Housekeeping magazine to write a column, Young Wife's World, where she remained until she retired in 1963. She had two children: Barbara Valentine Hertz and Barry Valentine. Her granddaughter, Valentine Hertz Kass Her great-grandson, Sam Kass, served as Barack Obama's Senior Policy Advisor For Nutrition Policy. Valentine died in 1986 in Miami at her daughter's home.